Christian Roman Empire
The period when Rome became the Christian Roman Empire lasted from about 305 AD until 363 AD. It began with the abdicated of Diocletian in 305 AD, that ushered in the unstable Second Tetrarchy. It then merged with the end of the Constantinian Dynasty in 268 AD, which ushered in more troubled time for Rome. The root of the eventual ruin of the Second Tetrarchy was founded in two young princes, who felt they had been denied their inheritance; Maxentius the son of a former Augustus, and Constantine the son a new Augustus. The slow demise was a complicated period, out of which Constantine the Great would emerge; the first sole emperor of the Roman Empire in forty years, and the first to claim conversion to Christianity. History Demise of the Second Tetrarchy (305-324 AD) After abdication Diocletian in 305, he had promoted Galerius and Constantius to the posts of Augustus, and appointed two new Caesars. The Second Tetrarchy barely had time to adjust to this new leadership, before it began to crumble. After just twelve months, Constantius died of an illness in Britannia. Although, Diocletian deliberately avoided it, the practice of a son succeeding his father was still considered natural to the Romans. Constantius’ son Constantine had been groomed for high office; he served ten years as at the court of Diocletian, and a year on campaign with his father. Well known to the legions in Britannia, they “spontaneously” clamoured for his ascension to the Tetrarchy. With great reluctance, Galerius agreed, promoting Severus to Augustus and naming Constantine the new Caesar. This compromise only stoked the resentment of another young prince who’d been cast aside, Maxentius, the son of Maximian, the former Augustus. Maxentius led a revolt with the support of the Senate, seizing control of Italy and daring the Tetrarchy to do anything about it. In 307 AD, Severus and Galerius marched on Rome and besieged to city. However, the Aurelian Walls in their first true test proved unassailable, and Severus was killed during the siege. In desperation, Diocletian was called out of retirement to get the Tetrarchy working again. It was agreed in 307 AD that a newcomer Licinius would be vaulted directly in as Augustus, and Maxentius’ seizure of Italy was declared illegal; not that Maxentius paid any attention. In 311 AD, the Tetrarchy essentially ceased to have any real meaning, with the death of Galerius of bowel cancer. The empire had again descended into civil war, with Licinius holding Greece and the Balkans, Constantine holding Britannia, Gaul and Hispania; Maximinus Daia holding Asia Minor; and Maxentius illegally still in Italy. It soon became clear that Maxentius’ position was untenable in the wake of depressed trade and heightened tax without the support of the wider empire. Constantine had remained aloof from the Italian conflict, but sensing an opportunity, in 312 AD he marched on Rome, with no good reason to believe he would fare any better than Severus and Galerius. Constantine was greeting in northern Italy by rejoicing crowds. He proceeded towards the capital at a snail’s pace, and it soon had the desired effect. With Rome on the verge of revolt, Maxentius ordered his army out of the gates in the impregnable Aurelian Walls to meet Constantine in battle. The two sides met at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312 AD). Despite being outnumbered two to one, Constantine found himself the benefactor of what could be described, if one were so inclined, as a miracle. After ordering his soldier’s shields marked with Christian symbolism, Constantine’s veteran legions defeated Maxentius; Maxentius drowned in the Tiber during the chaotic retreat. Constantine entered Rome as a conquering hero. In the aftermath, Constantine agreed an alliance with Licinius, to share the empire between them. In the east, Maximinus Daia had been an avid persecutor of Christians. To provoke a war, Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, legalising Christianity throughout the empire. Licinius defeats his rival in the east at the Battle of Tzirallum (313 AD). In defeat, Maximinus Daia was pursued across Asia Minor, until he was finally killed in Syria. Constantine was now master of the west, and Licinius the east, in an uneasy alliance that resembled nothing more than Octavian and Marc Anthony. Although the alliance would last over ten years, it began to fracture almost immediately. When Licinius’ son was born in 315 AD, Constantine saw it as a threat to his own long-term dynastic ambitions, and suddenly proposed resurrecting the Tetrarchy with new junior emperors. Despite the transparent trap, Licinius refused. Having orchestrated a justification for war, Constantine and Licinius fought against one another at the battles of Cibalae (316 AD) and Mardia (317 AD), with Constantine being victorious, though not decisive. After two years of war, the pair again agreed a settlement, with Licinius ceding from Greece and the Balkans to Constantine. Neither expected it, but the settlement lasted seven years. The final phase in the prolonged civil war came in 324 AD. Constantine had been repeatedly provoking Licinius, by encroaching on the eastern territories on the pretext of pursuing Germanic intruders. When, Licinius ordered him out of the eastern empire, Constantine wasted no time going on the offensive. The two sides met in a series of battles over the next 4 months, each of which Constantine won, until Licinius eventually surrendered. Constantine made a great show of magnanimously allowing Licinius to go into exile; he had him quietly executed twelve months later. Constantine (324-337 AD) Constantine was now the undisputed ruler of the Roman Empire. He came to power full of ideas, full of confidence, and full of energy, but above all, with the fervent belief that he was the instrument of the Christian God. He ploughed money into an empire-wide campaign of church building, including the original St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. In 325 AD, he summoned the Council of Nicaea, the very first Ecumenical Council of bishop from throughout the empire. Although his official policy was tolerance for all religions, many pagans still found their religious practices banned outright. Meanwhile, Constantine realised that Rome had many disadvantages as an imperial capital. He chose for his own capital Byzantium, then a small port-city; later renamed Constantinople. It was strategically located on the crossroads between east and west, provided an excellent harbour, and could be easily defended. He essentially built a brand new city from the ground up. In almost every areas of administration, Constantine continued the policies of Diocletian with a few tweaks here and there. He improved on his currency reform by introducing a new gold coin that was almost pure, the solidus. He also re-introduced the draconian morality laws of Augustus, and, like Augustus, wound up achieving little; he was also force to execute his eldest son and wife. Constantine also pursued successful campaigns against the Germanic tribes on the Roman frontiers throughout his reign. In 337 AD, while planning an ill-advised campaign against Sassanid Persia, Constantine fell ill; he was formally baptized on his deathbed. The legacy of Constantine is hard to assess, despite his astonishing achievements. Although he earned his honorific, The Great, from Christian historians long after he had died, he could have claimed the title on his military achievements and victories alone. The capital city he created became the greatest city in Europe for over one thousand years. The gold coin he introduced remained essentially unchanged in weight and purity for the next 700 years. And he made an immeasurable contribution to the Christian Church. Nonetheless, he did not favour any of his three sons, and chose for them all to succeed him, all but guaranteeing a return to the dark days of civil war. This bizarre decision has led more than a few historians to accuse him of being so egomaniacal that he just didn’t care what happened to the empire after he died. If the assessment of an emperor is whether he left the empire better off than when he found it, Constantine brought chaos to the empire on his rise to power, and then left chaos in his wake. Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans (337-353 AD) In 337 AD, the Roman Empire was shared between Constantine’s three sons: Constantine II received the western provinces and Constantius II the east, while the youngest Constans was nominally given the Italy and the middle under the guardianship of Constantine. Constantine’s sons had grown up in the shadow of their great father; a man who had spent his early life ruthlessly demolishing a carefully arranged power-sharing agreement. Starting where they meant to go on, their first act was to order a massacre of their wider family to remove any pretenders to the throne. In the east, Constantius II pursued the war with Sassanid Persia that their father had planned; for 13 years, blood and treasure were poured into the sands of the Middle East, with neither side making any significant gains. Meanwhile in the west, the older and younger brothers focused their energies on niggling each other. In 340 AD, their quarrelling descended into open conflict with Constantine II invading Italy. While on campaign, Constantine II was caught in an ambush and killed, and the empire was now neatly divided in two between Constantius II and Constans. However, while Constans was a capable administrator over his territory, he paid little attention to the legions. He was assassinated by his own legions in 350 AD under the leadership of the general Magnentius. Constantius II immediately extracted himself from the war with Sassanid Persia, and marched west. The ensuing Battle of Mursa Major (351 AD) was one of the bloodiest battles ever between two Roman armies; Constantius II lost perhaps 30,000 men and he won. The war continued for another two years before, in defeat, Magnentius committed suicide. Constantius II (353-361 AD) Constantius II was the now sole emperor of the Roman Empire, although the Danube and Rhine frontiers would remain weak and depleted for years to come. Between tribal incursions on the frontiers, the possibility of renewed war with Sassanid Persia, and the ever present possibility of revolt, Constantius II needed a trustworthy colleague. In 355 AD, he elevated his last remaining male relative to the rank of junior emperor, Julian, a serious and introspective young man. Julian was immediately dispatched to take charge of the under-garrisoned Rhine frontier. To everyone’s surprise, he threw himself fully into military life, and built quite a reputation for himself in a series of campaigns against the Alemanni and Frank tribes, despite his feeble resources. Meanwhile in 360 AD, Constantius II travelled east to deal with renewed aggression from Sassanid Persia. In desperate need of reinforcements (or possibly in a sinister test of loyalty), Constantius II ordered more than half of Julian's troops be transferred to the east. When Julian refused, civil-war seemed inevitable. However, just as the pair were gathering their resources, Constantius II died of a fever. Despite the civil war, Julian was still listed in Constantius’ will as his rightful successor. Julian the Apostate (361-363 AD) Julian the Apostate would be an ironic end to Constantinian Dynasty. He rejected the administrative style of his immediate predecessors, and wanted to return the Roman Empire to its ancient traditional values. Julian tried to fundamentally reforms the way the empire operated. He dismissed any superfluous officials from the bloated imperial court, stripping it back to its bare essentials. Sought to devolve government by giving real power to the men of the city councils, often against their will. He styled himself simply First Citizen rather than some divinely appointed monarch, to the bewilderment of public. However, his most dramatic reform, the one for which he’s named, was his attitude to religion. He rejected the supremacy of Christianity in favour of freedom of religion including pagan beliefs, to the utter outrage of the Christian Church. Julian was a man of unusually complex character, but did not live long enough to see through his ambitious legislative agenda; and possibly also lacked the political savvy to do so. To shore up his position as emperor, he perused another war with Sassanid Persia, even besieging the capital Ctesiphon. However, like the Roman cities, Ctesiphon had near impregnable defences. Julian was forced to make an ignoble withdrawal back to Roman territory, and was struck by a spear during the retreat.